The Golden Age of Piracy: The Pirate War
by phanzi
Summary: Portugal becomes a commander on an English ship but is to share her position with two others, England and Netherlands, on a mission to stop a war among pirates over a rumored treasure that the privateers have no idea of its value. AU and some OOC content.
1. Prologue: The Runaway

When I stretch out my body to the other side of the bed, I feel a figure. I flick open my eyes to see Isabella curled into a fetal position next to me as I was sprawled out on the mattress, depriving her of space. Of course. I must have been mumbling in my sleep again. My guardian, Isabella, was almost like my mother when she was sleeping: light snoring, her shoulder-length lemon blonde hair sprawled out on the stone-like pillow, always turned to one side in a fetal position.

It seemed life-like, but I hated her. I hated her since the day she knelt in front of me next to her bear-sized luggage and my older brother Antonio, patting me on the head. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't a two-face. She was as cheerful, kind-hearted, gentle and caring to my brother as she was to me and that was what I hated about her. I did think if we met in another world, when she didn't come because Antonio begged her to and given my rotten attitude, would she treat me the same? My mother's personality was no different from her, it was mine that changed.

My mother, Isabella, me. We could have been a trio of girly girls in this gloom of a town, strolling the streets in puffy dresses and sunhats and holding well-decorated shopping baskets in our hands. My father almost died in an avalanche in the Himalayas and just when he almost reached the harbor of our home, Lisbon, he was attacked by a pirate ship and decapitated. My mother, who worked hard to love him for herself, drank a full glass of poison berry juice, a venom that slowed down your pulse until you had no pulse at all. She gave me some, a stupid eight-year-old, and I was saved by Antonio.

We hated pirates. The blood in the vessels of Antonio's eyes boiled at that word, and now he was a privateer in Spain. That country had banned the idea of privateers after a rebel, but kept Antonio for he was the only loyal privateer. The day I witnessed him gouge out the eyes of a serial killer, or stab a pirate multiple times had given me the aspiration to become just like him. And I could, I could hold a person down and do some art on them with a single knife, or wipe out an entire group of soldiers with a good aim. I could, but I was forbidden by Antonio. It was too dangerous.

I wriggle out of bed quietly, making sure Isabella couldn't hear me. It was too good a chance to train. Ever since I slit a vein on my wrist by accident, the blood splattering out like a fountain and I almost died of blood loss, she forbid me to train my knife-throwing. The kitchen knives were hidden in a safe and the knives I used, much sharper and of different shapes were sold, thrown away or melted. Or that was what she said. I took the key from her bedroom and opened the safe, pleased that my knives were still intact. I put them in my jacket, an old privateer jacket that belonged to Antonio and set out.

The morning was cloudy and cold as usual because of the raining season. The raining season also meant the stay-at-home season for the animals, to me, the prey. I should have known. Isabella hated non-market meat. I set up the targets quickly so that I could end my training before Isabella woke up, since I forgot to leave an unsuspicious scene in the kitchen – a breakfast without any effort put in and a piece of papers lying about where I was. I trained in the backyard, so she would find me before she even read the note.

Six knives all hit the six targets perfectly, three sliding off my fingers in each hand. I had a feeling somebody was watching me, hopefully Antonio, who would understand my message that I was good enough to be a privateer at fourteen years old. The thought of Antonio had my arm tense and locked as my shoulders trembled. Taking in a deep breath, I was prepared to throw the knife, sharp and curved, at the target. Then my arm unlocked itself and pulled me towards the east as I shot the bushes.

_Ouch. _I heard. Antonio staggered out of the bushes like a drunkard, the tip of the knife tickling the flesh at his abdomen. I dropped my weapons and ran over to him.

"Rio, you're-" He began but I cut him off.

"Sh. I know I'm not supposed to be here." I whispered, my voice becoming softer with each word.

I pulled the weapon out of his stomach, the blood drying on his white shirt. As I attempted to sneak back home to get a first-aid kit, he stopped me. "Rio, ignore my wound first. Did you see that?"

"What?"

"Did you see me, venturing through those noisy bushes and trees?"

"No. But I had a hunch someone, or something was watching me. I thought it was lunch."

Antonio smiled. "How could you shoot, so accurately, right above my belly button when you didn't even see me?"

"I told you I had a hunch," I gulped, "and…"

"And?"

"This is quite a skill, isn't it?"

"For what?"

"I don't know. Maybe a police officer, a soldier, a spy. A _privateer_."

Antonio's smile disappeared and his voice began to tremble as shivers went down my spine. "You really take after me, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. And better, too. Why can't you just let me be one? Is it because I'm a girl?"

"No. It's too dangerous for you."

"If it's not my gender, then it's not dangerous for you, then how is it dangerous for me?"

"Listen, Rio. You're only fourteen. You're too young."

"Leave me alone!" I took off, not knowing where to go. My name was called out in his voice, as well as my father's. One was telling me to stop, the other was encouraging me. If I had a guardian, I would listen to him or her. My guardian wasn't Isabella, nor was it Antonio; it was my father all along. I only needed his approval to become a privateer.

My feet carried me to the harbor, where a public ship was leaving for a country a fan of privateers, England.


	2. Lars Aafjes

**A/N: NO. ISABELLA IS NOT BELGIUM. **

The public boat was ferrying more than a hundred people, contrary to its size. The boat had only seventy seats and some people had to sit on the deck, which was wet and dirty. I boarded it early and saved myself a seat at the back of the boat. It was rather a large seat for me, but I saw no reason to give it up. Most of the people on the boat spoke with posh British accents. Just when the captain was about to ring the bell, signaling that the boat was going to leave, a boy hopped onto the boat, his eyes wandering as he looked for a seat.

He was around my age, with messy light blonde hair and a blue-and-white-striped scarf around his neck. He waved at a woman, next to a girl and holding a baby in her arms at the harbor. She seemed to be worried about his seating, or the fact that he was leaving. Raising my hand, I inched to one side of the seat, the other big anough for him. He ran past the people on the seats and cautious of those sitting on the floor as he took his seat beside me.

"Thanks," He said. When I didn't reply he repeated himself. "Hey, uh, _thanks_."

"I know." I wondered if that was an appropriate way of saying _You're Welcome_.

"What's your name?"

Seriously? Was this kid actually attempting in engage in a conversation with me? "It's none of your business."

"Oh, I see," His voice was sarcastic. "I'm Lars. Nice to meet you, _none of your business_."

"Whatever."

"Hey, why so blue? Everyone else here is chatting non-stop and they didn't even offer me a place on the floor."

"It's because everyone has a partner to talk to, and probably they don't want you to be a nosy extra."

"That means the number of people on this boat is an even number. Why don't I be your conversation partner?"

"Whatever. But I won't respond to you."

"Yes or No questions?"

"Fine."

Lars smiled widely as he asked his first question. "You're going to England to get a job as a privateer?"

I stared at him. "How'd you know?"

Lars let out a bubbly giggle, something I found quite feminine. "With that _don't mess with me _face, nobody's going to believe you're going there for a holiday!"

"Fine. What about you?"

"Same. We might just end up on the same ship, for all you know. And I just realized you fired a query!"

The ends of my lips were trembling but I didn't want to smile and sell myself out. I couldn't trust someone who was going to become a privateer as well. What if he sabotaged my chances because I offended him with my not-so-welcoming attitude? I almost shrieked when he put his fingers on the ends of my lips, pulling them into a smile. "Now when I take my fingers off-"

I grabbed his wrists and threw them off my face, leaving a natural smile. "Don't do that again. Nice to meet you, Lars. I'm Rio."


	3. Getting Along

"Tryouts?" I shrieked as Lars hushed me. "How can there be _tryouts _for a privateer?"

The boat had just docked at the harbor in London and a rustle of wind brought me a surprise – maybe not such a surprise after all. It was pamphlet thrown away by somebody who didn't want to become a privateer. I had thought you had to plead with the government to let you be one, and now there were tryouts? It seemed so much easier to be a privateer, yet harder. The small piece of paper looked like a party invitation rather than a _privateer tryout_. The only reason why there was an _audition _for something not very graceful to some was because it was popular.

_**Welcome all future privateers of Her Majesty!**_

I rolled my eyes at the headline.

_**Venue The Grand Indoor Arena **__(1)(A/N: There is no such thing that exists. I made it up)_

"It's…tomorrow?" I mumbled.

"Yes. Come one day later and you would have to wait an entire year for the next tryout."

"Jesus Christ. Is there still time to register?"

"Yeah! I can treat you to a carriage ride if you need it!"

Somehow I regretted running away from Antonio. I hopped onto a boat to England impulsively without even finding out anything about the country. If I went anywhere, I would probably never find my way back to the harbor if I failed the _tryout_. The thought of failing the tryout was felt like a bee sting in the head. How could I stand the indignity of running away and come crawling back because I found out I couldn't survive there? I'd be proving Isabella right, I'd be proving Antonio right for God's sake! Embarrassment plunged into my heart when I thought about how rude I was to Lars earlier and now I had to cling onto him like a parasite.

The carriage ride to the arena was long but not bumpy, yet I was sunken in my seat in front of Lars who couldn't stop chattering about being a privateer. I got more nervous as the carriage neared the venue. I wondered if they'd give failures trips back home. Lars dragged me into the arena's colossal lobby. It was empty and tranquil, and the marble pillars that separated the long velvet couches were taller than the trees in the forests back home. At the end of the lobby, there was a long, marble counter and the ringing and clicking sounds of a typewriter. A short, middle-aged lady with bright pink hair and large red glasses was sitting on a small chair in front of the counter, her fingers synchronizing on the typewriter.

Lars tiptoed to see the receptionist behind the tall counter. I stood far behind him, still amazed by the architecture of the arena. The receptionist looked up and exchanged smiles with Lars. "May I help you?"

"We'd like to register for the privateer tryouts."

"We…?"

Lars pulled me over to the counter. "Her too!"

"Are you two siblings?"

"Nope, we're just friends."

"Well that's good for you. How old are you two?"

"I'm fifteen this year and she's…" Lars glanced at me and I quickly told the receptionist my age.

"Your accents…are you foreigners?"

"Yup! We live in Lisbon, but I'm Dutch!"

The receptionist looked back down at her typewriter and began typing again. "Alright, please fill in these forms and pass them back to me."

Lars took the two thick pieces of paper, handed me one and we started to spill out all our personal particulars. As I finished writing down all the basics – name, age, birthday, a question took me by surprise. They asked for a weapon of choice. There wasn't even a knife present in the options. Did they think the use of a knife was that limited? I crossed out all the options, a straight, thin line of ink prominent on the registration form. Beside the question, I wrote _knives_ and passed up the form. The receptionist took one look at each form and made a call, then led us to our dormitories.

"We have dormitories?"

"Yes. All the participants have a room all to themselves."

Lars looked up. "We can't share rooms?"

"We used to arrange it like that, until a participant was found dead in a bathtub."

"Ouch." I mumbled.

"You can train in the common arena if you'd like, but it's closing quite soon." The receptionist passed me my key to the room next to Lars' after leading him into his room. "That is, if you can find your weapon."

**XXX**

The common arena was designed just like the lobby, as well as all the other arenas. It had a resting lounge and a training room for every weapon. I was shocked to see a knife room, when the weapon wasn't even included in the form. I didn't wait for Lars. The room had windows made out of frosted glass and I could see the shadow of someone there. Though my resolution was to not trust anybody, I ditched Lars and ran to the knife room to find my fellow knife-thrower.

To my surprise, the knife room was empty. There were twenty metal targets in there, and some used knives on them. It seemed that my bursting into the room must have scared the other participant.

"Hello-o?" I chanted as I picked up the knives that were scattered on the floor. "Hello?"

"Please go out. This room is out of bounds for trainees." I heard a half-broken male voice.

"Who are you? Are you a privateer?"

A boy stepped out of the corner of the room. He was around my age, had dirty blonde messy hair, green eyes and unusually thick eyebrows. I stared at him. Could he possibly be a privateer or was he a trainee like the others? If he was a privateer, what would he be doing in the arena? "Who are you?"

"Hm, it's a bit too early for you to know. That is, when you _fail._" The boy said smugly, his lips curving into an irksome smirk.

I crossed my arms. "What makes you think I'll fail?"

"And what makes you think you'll succeed? Out of the hundred participants here, there can only be one privateer."

"Whether I fail or not, it's none of your business."

"It is, since you're using my room to train. Give up, _girl_. A female privateer? Please."

"You'll see." I mumbled as I walked out of the room.

**XXX**

I took a shower the next morning, something that was never included in my daily morning routine. The shower water was hot and although I knew I was staying in a fancy arena, I still harbored the fear of the water going cold all of a sudden and the lights blacking out, the room plunging into darkness. That happened quite often in my home and despite I could handle it well, I'd still have thoughts of a pirate walking in and violating me then killing me like what they did to my father. _Darkness is scary. You don't know when you put your hand in a hole in a tree trunk and you end up without a hand. _The words repeated in my head like a tape recorder.

I stepped out of the shower, looking away from the mirror. I hated seeing myself naked. The scars on my skin made me feel imperfect. After drying myself, I wore back the black tank top and black tights I had on yesterday, together with my jacket. When I walked out of my room, the other participants walking past me looked at me and snorted. It was probably because the jacket I was wearing belonged to that of a privateer. There was no breakfast provided as the tryout, or so called _test_ was first thing in the morning. As I was one of the last ones who registered, I got to sleep in and take my own sweet time to the main arena.

Those who had to wait for their turn sat at the arena as spectators, while guests and parents occupied majority of the arena. Parents? Like any parent could stand seeing their children becoming a privateer. When I stepped into the main arena, I was surprised to see it almost empty, with not a single soul on the parents and guests seating area and Lars falling asleep at his seat. How long was I asleep? My pulse immediately increased as nerve built up in me.

"Lars! How long was I asleep?"

Lars hauled his head up to look at me. "Uh…ah…oh hey, Rio. I don't know…when I came in here, the place was half-empty."

"I don't think I'm ready!"

Lars was about to give me a word of encouragement, until his name was called out. The third last participant, a overly muscular man left the room after exchanging eye contact with me. Winning, was harder than I thought. Was the boy in the knife room yesterday right? Was I really going to fail? Time flew past as I kept thinking of what it would like for me if I couldn't become a privateer. It flew past so quickly that I didn't even realize Lars was already out of the arena and they were repetitively calling out my name.

"Rio Juarez Carriedo. This is the last call."

"Here!" I yelled as I made my way down. I didn't notice the _judges _sitting at the corner seats north of the arena. There were only two judges: A redheaded, drunk privateer and the boy I met yesterday. Shivers went down my spine as I felt his green orbs on me, about to burst out laughing when I made a mistake. The boy finally stopped staring at me and shook the redhead to wake up. He was Niall Kirkland and if I could win, I'd work on his ship as his first mate. I didn't know what the boy's occupation was, but I prayed that he was just another privateer and not someone on Niall Kirkland's ship.

"Aye, so you're Rio Juarez Carriedo?" Niall mouthed, his accent pronouncing my name wrongly. "Knife-thrower, aye?"

I gulped. "Y-yes."

"Aye, the targets are there. Show me what you can do."

I walked over to the rack of knives and randomly picked one. I was too nervous to take note of his sharpness or shape. I clutched the handle of the knife tightly as I heard the boy whispering to Niall Kirkland, as if they were laughing about a teenage girl who dreamt of being a privateer. I felt his eyes on me, my name in his words as my blood boiled. Without thinking, I turned and the knife flew right at the boy, stabbing him in the shoulder. A yelp was heard, followed by Niall's voice.

"Fuck! Arthur, are you alright?"

"Niall, I…" Arthur. That was his name. He gripped the handle of the knife and pulled it out as blood spilled out of the gash in his shoulder.

"I'll get help!" Niall stood up and turned, his thick eyebrows furrowing at me. Two British soldiers ran into the arena and grabbed me. "She threw that shot at Arthur! Take her away! Throw her in jail! Execute her!"


	4. Pirate War?

"You hear that?" Elizaveta whispered to her two other cellmates when she heard the rusty creaking of the dungeon gates. "That is the sound of a new cellmate – another poor, innocent girl who is no longer of use to Niall Kirkland."

Two guards held onto each of my arms as they dragged me into the dungeon. There was only one dungeon, underground of the high court, and it was crowded with men – pirates, criminals, spies, traitors. Out of the whole level, there was only one cell for females and three only. I guess I wouldn't get the _honor _of being the first female prisoner. I winced at the pain of the guards' large fingers curled around my thin arms as their fingernails cut into my skin. I felt the eyes of the prisoners on me, excited that there was another female prisoner. I daren't exchange eye contact with any.

The loud cackling sound of the guards' boots alerted the female prisoners and they all looked up and stared at me. One of the guards undid my chains and pushed me into the cell. "Get in there, dolly! The nerve of ye to be shootin' at captain's brother."

I got on my feet slowly as I felt the tears gathering at the edges of my eyelids. I couldn't cry. It made me look weak. I now knew that the cocky boy who was death in my eyes was Niall Kirkland's younger brother and he was first mate indeed. I sat with my back facing the other girls in the cell. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I flinched. I turned around and saw a startled girl with a bandage wrapped around her mouth.

"You did that?" A brunette asked.

"Did what?" I snapped.

She stood up and walked towards me. "You shot Arthur Kirkland?"

"I didn't shoot him…I did, but with a knife. I didn't mean it."

"Same shit anyway. You're the real criminal here." An Asian girl with long black hair mumbled.

I blinked. "Real criminal? What are you talking about?"

The brunette spoke. "We're all innocent, at least, not in the matter of the heart."

"That bastard Kirkland-"

"Shush, Tam." The brunette snapped, glaring at the other girl.

I looked up. Guilty in the matter of the heart? "What do you mean?"

"We were in love. Used, toyed with, raped. When we rebelled, this is what we got." The brunette's eyes shifted to the girl with the bandaged mouth. "She was the strongest among all of us."

"She got her whole mouth removed – her teeth, tongue, gums and so on. Now she eats through a tube connected to her gullet." said Tam.

The girl in bandages began to cry, but she seemed like it was too painful to cry. Her tears flowed out of my eyes as I pitied her. I'd rather have a death sentence than work for someone as ruthless as Niall Kirkland. The brunette looked at me and forced a smile. "Hey, don't cry. It's no use, really. We realized that a long time ago. I'm Elizaveta Herdevary."

"Nguyen Phuong Tam. That's Wang Mei." Tam pointed at the girl in bandages.

"Rio Juarez Carriedo." I said blankly.

"A trial's coming up for you, Rio. A chance to be in the presence of the jury." Elizaveta chirped. "I guess it holds quite a heavy sentence for touching a civil servant."

"I'm not afraid at all. I'd rather have a death sentence, to be hung by the words of the jury than work under Niall Kirkland."

"Privateer tryouts?" Tam asked. I nodded. "Me too. Six years ago, I won."

**XXX**

**(A/N: There will be no narration when Rio is not present.)**

Arthur brushed the rough surface of the bandage around his shoulder with his hand as he hissed in pain. The bullet was out, the wound was disinfected and it felt like it was still there. Arthur wondered if what he said to the female participant had affected her to the extent where she felt hatred towards him. Now that she was in jail, he probably made it worse. After Rio left the knife room, he had witnessed her train using other alternative weapons that were similar to knives. Although she didn't perform just as well, he had to admit she was good. He didn't know why he made a dig at her when he could have just kindly asked her to leave.

The door of Arthur's bedroom creaked and Niall walked in. He sat on an armchair across the bed and glanced at Arthur. "Excited?"

"For what?"

"The announcing of the winners, course. I've chosen mine."

"Who?" Arthur looked up.

"Lars Aafjes, fourteen, swordsman."

"Why not the others?"

"I need youngsters like ye, Arthur. Children with pure minds for me to corrupt on me own."

Arthur nodded. "I was considering Rio Juarez Carriedo."

Niall's eyes widened, a thunderstruck expression on his face. "Are ye kidding? She was a centimeter away from puncturing ye heart!"

"I could tell she was out of her mind and the fact that she didn't miss me proves that she's good."

"She shot ye before she got the chance to shoot a target. It doesn't prove ne to me!"

"Fine. Deceive Rio. Make both winners and then use Lars to kill her."

"I am not risking it, Arthur. She might go out of her mind again!"

"She shot me for a reason!"

Niall stood up, his eyes shooting at Arthur like daggers. "What reason!"

"The night before the tryouts…I insulted her."

"And we need a sensitive, bratty, _female _on our ship for what?"

"Go with my idea, Niall. I promise you, she'll die with regrets. She's tough like all the other past female participants and she won't be afraid of any pure punishment by the British jury."

Niall paused but let out a beat sigh. "Fine."

**XXX**

"The trial's today? Already?" I frowned at the thought of the early trial when I just met new friends. I wasn't sure, but that morning a guard came and told me to pack up my things as if I had anything with me. They weren't going to hang me, were they going to bring me somewhere where more torture and pain awaits me? I spent about three nights in that cell and managed to get along with everyone, including Mei, although I wasn't able to communicate with her verbally.

"I didn't see any fancy carriage. I guess there isn't any trial after all. It's not surprising for them to come up with an immediate decision with such a severe crime." Elizaveta lamented. "Good luck anyway, though."

"Are you done yet?" A guard snapped at me impatiently.

"I don't even have anything to pack, please." I said rudely. How can there be a rush for a punishment, especially since the jury wasn't going to be there anyway.

"You could have said so!" The guard opened the cell and I bid goodbye to the girls. He dragged me out violently, ignoring the painful grip of his hand on my elbow and brought me out of the dungeon.

"That hurts!"

"I don't care. We don't have much time."

I wondered what he meant by time? Not having time to kill somebody? My eyes widened when we reached the entrance of the high court where a fancy, well-decorated carriage was waiting for me at the porch. It was made out of fine, white wood and lined with real gold chains. The usher beamed at me as he opened the door to the carriage. Since when were prisoners treated this well? It was odd to pamper a prisoner before his or her death or sentence. Prisoners were usually carried in dirty, farm carts when they were being brought to their execution destination or transferred to another dungeon. I entered the carriage and rested myself on the puffy, velvet couches. I was so mesmerized by the design of the carriage that I didn't notice Lars was sitting in front of me.

"Hello, Rio! Good to see you again!" Lars mused as he beamed at me.

"Lars? What…what are you doing here?"

"This is the carriage for winners of privateers tryouts! We're going to the royal palace to be knighted!"

"What! I…how…I have to get out of here!"

"What's wrong?"

"Did they make a mistake? How could a prisoner like me be knighted!"

"They sure did make a mistake by sending you to jail!"

"I _shot _Arthur Kirkland, a civil servant! It's a severe crime and is punishable with a death sentence! And yet…"

Lars was about to speak, but he was too full of exuberance that by the time he began, the carriage had stopped and we had arrived at the royal palace. He chirped as we got off the carriage and the guards brought us into the colossal palace. The architecture was somewhat similar to the arena, yet more fragile and beautiful. The floors were marble with red velvet carpets laid out and there were fragile artworks everywhere – paintings, sculptures, pottery. Was the king just placing those there to cut someone's head off for accidentally breaking something? Lars was strolling while a guard was dragging me to the throne room, my heels creating friction on the floor.

"I can't go in there." I squeaked.

"Go on, dear, you'll be too happy to break down." The guard panted as we finally reached the entrance of the throne room. "Make yourselves comfortable. Your captain will be here very soon." The guard secured me on a divan as I kept fidgeting. Niall Kirkland? What I lost my mind again and attacked him?

"Ey there my young commanders. Nervous?" I heard a familiar voice. I turned and saw the redheaded privateer making his way towards us. He had a smug grin on his face, making me want to slap it. "It's time. Pardon me for calling you by your first names for the first time. Lars, straighten your shirt. _Rio_, adjust your hair." Niall knelt down and straightened Lars' shirt for him and turned to me. He paused for a while and then reached for my hair. I slapped his hands away.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped as I inched away from Niall.

A guard opened the doors of the throne room. "His majesty is ready, sir."

I assumed the throne room was two times the size of my own house. Why on earth do rich folks, royalty or not, need so much space? There was a single throne in the room and the room was decorated with vases of flowers and painting so that it wouldn't look too plain. A rather overweight man with a puffy wig on, whom was the king, was slumped in the throne lazily as he waited for us. And yet he expected us to be graceful in his presence? We knelt down in front of the king who was stunned at our age. He grabbed the sword from the velvet pillow a guard was holding and walked towards Lars first.

"I now knight thou as Sir Lars Aafjes." The king said simply and knighted Lars. He walked over to me, shocked at my gender, as if he was unsure how to knight me.

The cold blade of the sword tickled my neck and he began, "I now knight thou as…as…_Sir _Rio Juarez Carriedo?"

He raised the sword and put it back in place and we followed him to the large balcony in the central palace. Hundreds- no, thousands of people were outside the king's palace, cheering us on and calling out our names. I gulped when I heard some encouraging us to punish certain pirates brutally. What do they mean? Since when did pirates become such a common criminal name? A guard signaled the crowd to keep quiet and the noise level decreased and soon the sound of a pin drop could be heard.

"My people! Loyal citizens of Great Britain. May I present to you, the heroes of Great Britain!" The king announced, pointing at Lars and me. The crowd went hysterical once again. "We can end our fears of the dangers at sea! The Pirate War will end with Great Britain as the victors! Pirates will be abolished from the name of man!"

"Pirate War!" I blurt out suddenly. The king turned around and glared at me as the crowd's cheering was replaced by doubtful whispers. Niall grabbed my arm and dragged me indoors as the king explained to the crowd that I was just nervous. Yet I felt so triumphant when I ran away from Antonio. Now I knew why he was strongly against me becoming a privateer and it was the first time I regretted not listening to him.


	5. Roommate

"What the bloody hell were you doing!" Niall hissed as I struggled at his grip. He was too strong. "I know you've got a lot of guts, but what you just did was disrespect to the king, disrespect to the nation and disrespect to yourself!" I looked away, trying to pretend I didn't care but he grabbed my chin and made me face him. "I know you detest me for sending you to jail, but I'm your captain so _look at me _when I talk to you!"

"I don't care!" I burst into tears. "I had no fucking idea this was coming! I'd prefer life imprisonment over this!"

"I get it now." Niall snapped. "You didn't do your homework, and then you wanted to act all gutsy and tough and registered for the tryouts. You were so determined to become a privateer and now you want to give up?"

"I don't, but this responsibility is too much for a fourteen-year-old to handle!"

"You won't be alone! Why do you think Lars won as well? Why do you think there are still tryouts when I already have my brother as my commander?"

I stared at Niall, grabbed his wrists, his grip now gentler and put his hands off my face. I stepped onto the cement floor of the balcony and saw the crowd jeering at the king's unacceptable explanation. They threw all sorts of things at the king, differing from food to shoes to even animals. The guards protected the king as I went up, with a fake grin on my face that I made out to be victorious and triumphant.

"I apologize for my sudden outburst there. I guess all your encouragement and hope is giving me a little too much pressure. Nonetheless, pressured or not, we pledge to use our lives to protect the innocent people of Great Britain and the rest of the world and put an end to this Pirate War once and for all!" Lars stared at me, eyes widened, amazed my speech. The crowd stopped jeering and began cheering, incessantly calling out my name. The king, jealous of me getting all the attention, pushed past the guards, rose my and Lars' arms and presented us as the heroes of the country.

**XXX**

The evening in London was extremely cold and I couldn't wait to experience the warmth of the cabins in Niall Kirkland's ship. The men on the ship were taking too long to transfer all the supplies on the ship and I wondered why we couldn't board it until they were done. All of a sudden, I felt two warm hands on my shoulders. Gasping, I turned around and was taken by surprise when I received a tender embrace from Lars.

"You were great!" Lars chirped as he pulled away.

"Th-Thanks."

"But are you sure you blurted Pirate War because you were pressured? Or you don't know what it's about at all?"

Damn this kid has only met me for a few days and he knew me that well. I pulled him closer so that nobody else would hear our conversation. "Don't tell anyone. To tell you the truth, I really don't know."

Lars gasped. "You have never seen a pirate attack in Lisbon before?"

"No, I live in the countryside."

"They come and go almost every day! The military forces are useless against them, and because Portugal doesn't have privateers, we can't do anything about it!"

I had absolutely no idea so many things happened in the urban area of Lisbon. People were probably getting their heads sliced off one by one for money while I was playing privateer leisurely in my backyard. When I opened my mouth to ask about the Pirate War, my question was overthrown by a shriek when I felt an adult's hand on my shoulder. It was Niall. He raised an eyebrow, confused at my startled reaction. I apologized and quickly boarded the ship once the men were done. Why was he always there? Now that I had moved in with him, having private conversations were going to get harder.

I opened the door to my cabin. I was amazed at the architecture of a privateer ship. I used to assumed it was like a pirate ship but less filthy and yet it turned out to look like a room in the royal palace. There were two beds in the cabin, a marble pillar separating them. _Good_, I thought as there was enough privacy for me and my roommate wouldn't be able to see me drool in my sleep. Speaking of roommates, I was rather disappointed when I saw Lars being led to another cabin. He was my first friend, since I could never have one being cooped up in that house. But I was excited to find out who was my roommate.

The door flung open as I continued to admire the interior design of the cabin. I turned and saw Arthur Kirkland – the boy who laughed at me before he saw me with a knife and almost got killed when he did. I ought to hate him, but I had no reason to. He paused when he saw me, but leisurely made his way to his own bed. _Oh god, no. _

"Welcome on board. You'll be sharing a cabin with me now, fellow commander." He said blankly.

"Why? I thought someone like you who had a special relationship with the captain would have privileges?" I said sarcastically.

"My brother treats all his men the same."

"Uh-huh, and he would be as fair as to dig out the mouth of an innocent girl?"

Arthur looked up. "You don't know anything."

"Of course I don't know anything. But I would, if she still had a mouth to talk to me."

Out of the blue, Arthur flung his arm right above my chest and pinned me against the wall. "What do you know? You've never been brushed by death. You've never survived being thrown into a sea full of mermaids. You've never loved someone so much and found out they were backstabbing you with their foul mouth!"

"I…I…"

Arthur edged himself away. He stared at his arm and looked like he only just realized what he did. "You might want to ask for a change of cabin." He mumbled before he left the room. Although he had already left, I slapped my hand over my unharmed mouth. I ranted about people who talk before they think, I ranted about myself. I was fortunate Arthur didn't dig my mouth out, though it might be fouler than Mei's. I paced back and forth in the room, wondering what Mei could have done to Niall that caused her the loss of her mouth. I had nothing to do while waiting for Lars to unpack so we could meet Niall in his cabin.

After an hour of me pacing back and forth in my room and Lars slowly unpacking, Niall summoned us in his cabin together with Arthur. Despite what he said, he did get privilege, but sometimes not that special. While we were seated in front of a table with tea and cake across Niall, Arthur was leaning against a corner behind Niall, just close enough to hear what he had to say.

"Welcome aboard. Care for some tea?" Niall asked, his fingers curled around the handle of the teapot.

Lars and I glanced at each other. "It looks too good to be pure." I murmured.

"Who do you think-" Arthur began.

Niall's eyes shifted at Arthur, telling him to keep quiet for some reason. "So, how do you like your cabins?"

"They're amazing! I've never stayed in such a fancy room, even though I'm sharing it." Lars mused as he sipped his tea.

I glanced at Arthur. "I know I won't get along with my roommate. Can I have a change?"

Niall chuckled. "Arthur isn't that bad, dear."

"Why'd you put me in the same cabin as him? Aren't you afraid I might knife him again?"

Niall's smile disappeared, melting into a serious face. "If not for him, you wouldn't be out of jail, let alone on this ship."

I covered my mouth to gasp and stared at Arthur, who looked away. I almost killed him and he got me out of jail, put me on this ship and even tolerated me sharing a cabin with him? I smelled a rat that Arthur wasn't being that nice physically and that it was first time there were two privateers. They used to be so hostile. I stood up, thanked Niall for the tea although I didn't even get a drop of it and left the cabin to rest early. If possible, Arthur would see me with hatred in his eyes and suffocate me to death so that I won't have to fight any Pirate War or go home and face the indignity of coming back after running away.


	6. Mermaids, AHOY!

My childhood dream as an eight-year-old was to be a mermaid. I imagined them to be so angelic, their voices like sugar to ears, kind but shy. At fourteen, I rolled out Niall's map and saw a painting of a banshee, in other words, a mermaid. It was a blonde leaning against a rock, her blue eyes sparkling in the artist's impression and her blue tail purging out of the water surface. The artist must have loved her so much to draw her that beautifully, but didn't live long after packing up his brushes and paper. Real mermaids were the deadliest creatures of the sea but they were endangered – they could only be found in some parts of the ocean. According to the map, that was where we were headed to. That was where all pirates had to cross in order to reach their destination in time.

People used to believe that any man who dared to cross mermaid waters would never make it out alive, but now mermaid fishing was quite common for pirates. That is, if they had the guts. I found it very ironic how a mermaid's venom can send a person to hell in seconds and yet their blood can heal any wound or poison taken in, regardless of whether it is their own venom, in seconds. Their tears can turn a 100-year-old with all wrinkly skin and turkey necks to look like a teenager, but they would still die of old age anyway. It was like your murderer reviving you. Their saliva was what you had to avoid.

"How far now, navigator?" Niall asked a sailor.

"Near. We'll be on mermaid waters by sunset, sir." The sailor replied.

"Perfect."

Arthur pushed past the sailors after hearing Niall. "Niall, you're not serious, are you? Haven't you learnt your lesson?"

"I don't think there can be a second case of a Taiwanese geisha girl pushing me into a sea of hungry beasts, eh?" I looked up at the mention of Wang Mei. Geisha girl? How could he call her that? "We need a mermaid, Arthur. We'll be expecting bloody fights in the Caribbean. Bloody, as in literally _bloody_."

"We cannot shed all her blood! It will not be enough!"

"Then we'll stuff her up before the day comes with iron and then it will be enough! We get a few bottles and stuff her up again!"

"This is insane! How is it possible to get a single mermaid without even singing? Yet, if we include the singing, a whole herd of them will tear the ship down and eat us all up!"

Niall raised an eyebrow, then glanced at his men who were attentively watching him argue with his brother. They noticed their captain and quickly pretended to get back to work. Niall then summoned Lars and me. "The three of you. What the bloody hell are you doing my vessel?"

"We're your commanders?" I mumbled.

"You're not my commanders. You're the King's privateers. You are serving the British navy, at the same time, completing a mission that the King assigned to you." Niall's eyes shot at Arthur and then he lifted a bottle of rum, ironically pouring it into a teacup. "I am here to guide you, which is why you address me as captain. You three are the true captains of this ship. Now that we're about to cross a dangerous path, it is the best opportunity you three to test yourselves out."

"Test ourselves out! I've been with you on this shit vessel for the whole of my bloody life-"

"The three you can choose to send one down on a longboat to get a mermaid to notice you, if not you can all go together."

Arthur and Lars glanced at each other, nodded, then glanced at me. I blinked. "Me?"

Niall disagreed. "Except for the lady. That would be completely futile!"

"Excuse me, Captain!" I shouted. "What makes you think a mermaid can only get _turned on _by a male?"

Niall chuckled. "And you expect to believe in those theater pirate operas where mermaids have special orientations?"

"Then the three of us will go together!" I announced, glancing at Arthur and Lars.

"Not me," Arthur mumbled.

"Coward! Bloody coward!" I screamed.

"I will go with you, Rio…" Lars murmured, his voice trembling.

"Enough!" Niall shouted. "Lars will stay on the ship. Arthur will go with Rio. It's time you two get to know each other better and _get along_."

Arthur sighed. "Y-yes, captain."

"Yes…captain…" I mumbled.

"Good. Good luck then! I hope you two will understand the meaning of teamwork after this experience."

Arthur glanced at me and touched my arm but I jerked away. "Rio, you know, I…"

"Bloody son of a puta! Must you oppose me all the time!" I snapped and stormed off, a list of Portuguese swears falling off my lips.

**XXX**

I sat on the longboat cross-legged with Arthur as a sailor slowly lowered us on the surface of the mermaid waters. The warm water burned the floor of the longboat a bit, which was why I was cross-legged. It was extremely unladylike to sit like that, especially in front of a man, but at that moment I could barely give a damn about what Arthur thought. We were supposed to sing, but with Arthur's face a meter from mine, I was not in the mood. Niall forced us to stay on the longboat until we caught a mermaid, and the mile-long ropes didn't seem helpful to me at all. Hours passed and I fell asleep, yet a single mermaid wasn't even spotted.

I was awoken when I heard Arthur humming some tune. Then I saw him singing quietly, trying not to wake me, but to no avail. "Seriously? You're singing?"

"It's worth the shot." Arthur said, before humming again.

"It's irritating. Shut up." I groaned as I leaned against the edge of the boat.

"Rio, we're not here to enjoy the warmth of the water."

"Why did you stop?" A voice was heard.

"Huh!" I jerked out of my sleep and looked around the boat but I found nothing.

"Sh, no sudden movements." Arthur gestured with his lips.

Arthur glanced around the boat, his heart beating so loudly that I could hear it myself. He turned everywhere, but couldn't find the creature we were expecting. He cursed under his breath until I saw it myself. It was a brunette with dark skin and hazel eyes. I whispered to Arthur, "Arthur…"

"Sh!"

"Arthur, look!"

Arthur turned and he saw the magnificent creature, its arms rested on the edge of the boat. She was beautiful, yet so deadly. Arthur couldn't help it. He had never seen a mermaid so calm before. The first time he saw a mermaid was when its eyes were pure white and its teeth and claws sharpened. "My God." He mumbled.

"Why did you stop?" The creature inquired.

"You can talk?"

The creature nodded. "Why did you stop singing?"

"You liked my singing?"

"I liked it very much." The creature raised its hand, causing me to jerk and put it on Arthur's cheek. "You are very charming."

Arthur smiled. My eyebrows furrowed as I completely lost my patience. What the hell was he doing? Just six hours ago, he was complaining about how dangerous mermaids were and now he looked as if a miracle happened. The rope in my hand, I grabbed my sword and swung it out, pointing at the creature. I had expected Arthur to grab hold of it, but it inched away from the boat. I expected an apology from Arthur, but he shoved me.

"Idiot! You scared her!" He snapped.

"You're the idiot! You didn't pull it in!"

The creature glanced at Arthur, its eyes teary. "Pull me in?"

"It's not what you think," Arthur explained, leaning on the edge of the boat, tilting it. "We want to protect you from the ruthless pirates who will cross."

"Why do you want to protect me?" The creature asked seductively.

"What is your name, love?"

"Victoria. You are?"

Arthur smiled. "Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

"That's it! Move, you fool!" I shoved Arthur away and threw the knotted rope at the creature. I quickly pulled her in despite her struggling. She was hissing and screaming and her eyes were white without pupils. "Not so beautiful now, huh?" I dug at Arthur smugly as his mouth was wide open. Bravely, I tied the rope around the creature as she tried to bite me. She did, on my shoulder. I shrieked as her venom flowed into my body. Quickly, I used a bag to cover her head. I signaled the sailors to pull the boat up. I had caught a mermaid with my own bare hands, without Arthur, that useless, perverted idiot helping.

My lower body was all wet because the mermaid kept pulling me in while Arthur was bone-dry. We didn't talk, except for a few death glares from him for making _Victoria _think he was actually in it to catch her. I thought his excuse was stupid and illogical. Mermaids seeking protection from pirates? It ought to be the other way around. That mermaid was just weak, and not just because of that, she could give up her tears so easily. However, it was beneficial to all of us. I watched the sailors hold the mermaid down as her scales melted into legs. I didn't know it was possible, but she couldn't walk, crawl or roll. She was completely naked, which aroused some of the sailors on board. I didn't care, I just needed her blood for my wound.

"Captain! Commander's injured!" A sailor yelled.

Niall walked towards me. "Congratulations, the both of you. What happened? Was the mermaid trying to bite Arthur but Rio took it instead? That's sweet, Rio, and I'm glad-"

"I pulled the mermaid in. Arthur did nothing. That explains that I'm going to die right this moment if you don't help me!"

Niall blinked. "Alright then…men, take the mermaid and Rio to the healing room! Arthur, go with them. You'll take the blood."

"No!" I shouted. "If he goes, he'll probably weep and apologize to the bloody creature until I drop dead!"

"Alright, alright. Lars!"


	7. A Party Gone Wrong

I was resting on my bed the next morning, continuously poking at the itch under my bandage. I recalled the night before when Lars gently removed the blood from Victoria, whom I was forced to address her by her first name, as Arthur watched him cautiously although the sight of him there would just make me agitated. He claimed he was there as he was concerned about his roommate's injury, but the whole time his eyes were on Lars and how he was withdrawing Victoria's blood. Lars had to push a needle into Victoria's flawless skin six times before the blood came out and Arthur already looked like he wanted to murder Lars, while I was almost dead.

Niall gave me a few days off until all the venom had left my body. Lars asked him to give me more grace until I could fight, but Niall refused. We were already off mermaid waters and nearing the Caribbean. The venom had destroyed me to the extent that I couldn't even get on my feet properly.

"Feeling better?" I jerked my head and saw Arthur entering the room. He smiled at me as if nothing happened.

"Go away."

Arthur's smile disappeared. He walked towards me. "Rio, I know I wasn't being a good friend last night but-"

"You're not my friend."

"Don't you think we should try getting along? This cold war won't do us any good…"

I blinked. "Well, we had a really good opportunity last night. Maybe if you bothered helping me catch that infernal creature, I would be grateful to you and there! Our friendship would blossom like daisies!"

"Victoria is not an infernal creature! She saved your life!"

"Lars saved my life by pinning it down and drawing blood from it! She almost made me lose it!"

"Maybe I shouldn't have come in at all…"

"Maybe? You should keep your ass out of this room, or get a bed with that bloody mermaid! You didn't come here to ask about me! Because I'm the only other female on this ship, your little whore might need a few things from me!"

I shrieked when Arthur slapped me across the face. I turned and glared at me as I touched my stinging cheek. He stared at his hand and realized what he had done. "Rio, I…I'm…"

"Get _out_."

Arthur shook his head and left the room as I heard him curse under his breath. Once he was out, I burst into tears. I have never been slapped before, not even by Antonio or Isabella. Not even as a punishment from anyone. Arthur, whom I haven't known for a week, thought he had the right to slap me because I called his beloved Victoria his whore. It might be true, explaining his strong retaliation, but if Arthur fancied Victoria, catching her would be useless. We needed her blood and I was sure Arthur couldn't stand by watching his beloved in agony while we drew blood from her.

Sighing, I lifted my legs from the bed with much effort. My feet were so numb that I couldn't even feel the carpet on the cold, marble floor. I lifted my upper body but I collapsed, my wound hitting the floor, as if a trigger had went off there. Was this Victoria's first experience of walking? I grabbed hold of the mattress of the bed and stood myself up. Then I realized how much I took the ability to walk for granted.

**XXX**

The young night began with an unexpected visit from my mentor and captain Niall. It was unexpected as he always looked like he hated me, adding the fact that Arthur, whom I detest, was his pet and brother. He walked in and beamed at me. It was supposed to be friendly, but it sent shivers down my spine.

"Hello. Are you feeling better?" Niall asked, his tone sounded caring, but I was still cautious.

"I can't even stand up. What do you think?"

"I can see that." He chuckled. "Arthur told me how you locked him out the cabin. God, you two fight like husband and wife."

"He started it!" I pouted. "He came in, looking all concerned and caring, but he just wanted to take my things for his stupid whore! And _never_ compare us with husband and wife, I'm not that low!"

"Woah, down girl. That was a little harsh."

"Harsh? You want to see harsh? How about I rip off my bandage to let you have a glimpse of harsh?"

Niall sat down on my bed, causing me to inch away. "Rio, are you jealous?"

I was about to throw up a whole explanation about not being jealous, but instead, I laughed. I laughed! I giggled as if I was mental. Actually, I giggled because his question was stating the obvious. I've barely known Arthur and so far everything I knew about him was negative. I hated his face, would I want his attention? I covered my mouth to stop laughing and shot Niall an annoyed look.

"Rio, I'm your captain and mentor. You can tell me anything. You might as well tell me before you start lusting after him in the middle of the night."

"I'm not jealous." I said firmly.

"Do you find this mermaid jeopardizing your position on this ship?"

"That's nonsense." I snorted. "I'm just afraid that if Arthur does start caring for her, he won't let us take a drop of blood from her. Then, wouldn't we be stuffing a mermaid for nothing?"

"See, Rio, you're so intelligent. A mermaid can't be compared with you!"

"I'm sure this has crossed your mind before, _Captain_."

Niall nodded. "It has, but we have nothing to worry about. That is just an excuse to cover up the fact that you like Arthur."

"Do you really want me to show you how I would express my burning love for him if you continue teasing me?" I smirked, my eyes focused on at the knife sack that hung beside my clothes.

"Well, whatever it is, I'll support you all the way. Arthur will come to his senses that you are a better choice."

"Go away." I hissed, but the ends of my lips were curved into a smile. Niall winked at me and left the cabin.

**XXX**

A few days later, when I was finally able to walk, I had nothing to do but wander around the ship, checking on the crew as I waited for the captain to get up. The sailors were gossiping about how I locked Arthur out of our cabin because they thought something happened on the longboat which caused me to flare up at him. Of course something happened, just that it was way too different from the sailors' dirty view. When I walked into a cabin that used to be a study, from what I heard and Niall forbade me from entering that room. However, he didn't say anything to Arthur or Lars. Curious, I opened the door slightly and saw that the room was crowded with men gambling and others watching or waiting for their turn. Niall forbade me from seeing this?

I walked over to Lars who was winning at a table in the corner of the room, where most of the sailors were surrounding the area. I called out, "Lars!"

Lars glanced at me and beamed. "Rio! Hey! Just in time, want to play a few rounds?"

The sailors jeered at Lars for letting me play without any wait time. Lars reasoned that I was a lady, but I showed no interest in gambling. I stared at the crumpled pounds on the table. "Isn't this room supposed to be a study or something?"

"Study? No, it's Captain's gallery! He barely comes in so I turned it into a gambling den!" said a sailor.

"Gallery?" I asked. "What kind of gallery?"

"Look around you, love!"

I looked around the room and didn't notice the number of paintings of women on the walls. I even saw paintings of my ex-cellmates, Elizaveta, Tam and Mei. They said Niall was a Casanova, a bastard who only wanted to use them for his own benefits, if not sex. If they were so insignificant to him, then why did he keep paintings of them? I shook my mind off the paintings and realized that Lars was gambling…at fourteen years old.

"Seriously, how is this money beneficial? We're at sea!" I complained.

"When we dock, we can bloody quit this crappy job and enjoy ourselves on land!" A sailor cheered, raising a bottle of quality beer, or rum was what they called it.

"Drinking early in the morning?" I crossed my arms.

"Of course, we ought to save this for tonight!" Lars yelled.

Just then, a sailor barged into the cabin. "Captain's awake! Captain's awake!"

The sailors took all the money on the tables, whether or not it was their win. They cleared up the cards, chips, dice and tables and kept them in the wall behind a painting. They pushed each other out of the cabin as Niall's footsteps got louder and louder. Instead of running for my life as it could cost it for not following captain's orders, I stayed in the cabin and stared at the familiar girl in the painting that hid all the gambling gear. I gently held it and studied the painting. "Isabella?" I mumbled as Niall suspiciously entered the room.

"What are you doing here?" He said blankly, although I heard anger in his tone.

**XXX**

The night was young as I climbed up to upper deck for a party that Lars mentioned. I thought my whole afternoon or the rest of my days would be taken away by Niall for intruding his privacy, but he simply asked me go out after I asked if the girl was Isabella. Niall now left the gallery opened more than ever and the sailors gave me credit for it. They no longer had to be secretive around Niall when they wanted fun. Instead of feeling like a hero like what Lars said, I felt guilty. The paintings stayed in the gallery, except the painting of Isabella which Niall took away.

I opened the door to the gallery, the loud creak alerting the sailors. They were too used to being secretive that they all craned their necks to see if it was their captain. Seeing me, they all cheered and welcomed me. "Ey, it's chief commander!"

"Chief commander?" I said, glancing at Lars as I sat down in front of him. "Isn't that supposed to be the captain?"

"No, it's technically supposed to be Arthur, but since there is no such position, it's just a joke."

A sailor punched Lars' arm. "Don't spill it to her, son! She hates that guy to the bone, let her feel good for once!"

"Right, sorry!" Lars said, scratching the back of his neck. He raised his glass of dark rum which pirates drink, about to toast. Then he realized something and slammed his glass down. "Sorry, do you drink?"

I grabbed a glass from a sailor about to drink and raised it. "Of course!"

I toasted with Lars and jugged the whole glass down, which surprised some of the sailors. Another sailor walked towards me with a whole jug of it and poured the rum into my glass to the brim. "Shot! Shot! Shot!"

Several shots of rum later, I felt too high to think. Before I realized it, half of the clothes that I entered with was off and I was in Lars' lap, fooling around with him while the other sailors cheered. My mind was turned off and focused on only having fun while my heart knew I wasn't myself. More sailors joined the party, including those obedient ones who daren't enter the gallery although the captain didn't care. They were either there to drink or to see two commanders literally having sex on a table. Maybe not that far, because we had our clothes on, but I didn't even know how humiliating it was.


	8. A Not So Happy Birthday

Niall paced back and forth in the room as Lars and I sat next to each other, avoiding eye contact. It was sunset and that morning I found myself on Lars' bed, screaming and accusing him of taking advantage of me. Lars explained the incident the previous night, but I pretended that I couldn't recall anything. After Lars found out I was lying, his fist went flying into my face, but was fortunately stopped by Niall. We were both in his office, expecting an earful from our captain but it had been two hours and Niall had done nothing but walk around the room as if he was waiting for something.

Out of the blue, Niall growled and kicked his chair as shivers went down my spine. His eyes shot daggers at the both of us. "Jesus Christ, Rio, you are so juvenile!"

I blinked as my indignant response trembled at my lower lip, but I daren't say anything.

"You _hate _everyone over the stupidest reasons and you're going at Lars because you refuse to admit what happened last night involved you as well." Niall hissed. "Not forgetting the fact that last night _happened _because you wanted to spite Arthur."

I looked up, eyebrows furrowed as I tried to suppress my tears, but I still kept my mouth shut.

Niall turned to Lars, who was whistling silently. "Commander, you encouraged your crew to disobey your captain and took advantage of your own colleague."

"I didn't take advantage of her!" Lars protested. "We were both willing!"

"After you, along with the crew, encouraged her to drink until she was in that state!"

"She could have just rejected it!" Lars hissed. "With all due respect, Captain, I think you're just mad because we used your slut gallery as a function room."

Niall grabbed Lars' collar and punched his eye. "Rio was topless _and _on top of _you _last night, in front of my crew. It is both of your faults that Rio attended the bloody party, but it has affected the whole crew."

"So this _is _about the fucking war, isn't it?" I raised my voice as I stood up and left the room. I stomped past the sailors who glanced at me and nudged each other as they whispered about last night. "What the fuck are you looking at? Get back to work!"

"Ma'am, it's seven o'clock at night." A sailor laughed.

I groaned and punched the sailor in the face, sending him flying off the ship and begging her to pull him up. It somehow cheered me up, but I wasn't smiling. I ignored the sailor and made my way back to my cabin and shut the door. I panted, my back leaning against the door as I felt Arthur staring at me. What did he want from me? I noticed he had been staring at me like that since morning, as if he wanted to read my emotions. He obviously knew what happened to me last night with the sailors at the gallery yelling my name and that I never returned to the cabin. He was probably indignant that I called Victoria a slut when I topped Lars, even in front of a hundred men. Maybe he wanted to slap me again, but it would be well-deserved anyway.

Without taking a shower, I removed my jacket and boots and flopped onto the bed, falling asleep right away. Maybe Arthur wanted to kill me in my sleep, or share Lars' experience.

**XXX**

At fifteen years old, it was time to wear a corset. It was my birthday, when Antonio would mail me the only gift I appreciated while Isabella spent her money on things she had no idea if I liked just to impress me. Now both of them had no idea where to mail the presents. I had spent the last ten years wearing an undershirt with the fear that anyone would notice my breasts. I had practiced wearing a corset two years ago when Isabella noticed my chest was getting a little too large, but I immediately hated it. It was the most embarrassing moment for me. I went out wearing the corset and the strings just untied themselves the whole thing dropped out of my shirt.

After taking a shower that morning, I tried to remember how Isabella tied her corset as I tied mine, but I kept failing. I regretted not letting Arthur use the bathroom first, now that I didn't want to go out of the bathroom in a loose corset, in front of a boy too. Now he was yelling at me to hurry up.

"Rio, what exactly are you doing in there?" Arthur snapped.

"Give me another minute!"

"That's what you've been saying for the last hour! Do you need my help?"

"No!"

"Bloody he-" Arthur impatiently pushed the door open as I gasped, dropped the corset off my bare chest. His face immediately grew red, staring at my nude chest and slammed the door closed. I wondered why he was blushing, hasn't he seen Victoria's nude chest? "Why didn't you tell me you were doing that?"

"You just pushed the door open out of the blue!" I protested. "Why are you blushing? Aren't you used to this?"

"What am I, a rapist?"

"Victoria,"

"She doesn't even have breasts!" Arthur mumbled. "A-At least…not _that _big."

I gasped, about to call him a pervert for even checking them out, but felt it was compliment.

"Put your corset over your chest and come out. I'll help you." Arthur said. I was surprised he knew how to tie a corset, or perhaps it was easier for him since he could see my back. I kicked the door open, my hands clasped on the ball of string I gathered at the back of my corset, making sure it won't drop. I turned my back to Arthur and let go of the strings. I felt his fingers touching my bare back and felt a little uncomfortable, but more particular when he was so tight on the strings.

"Ouch."

"The tighter the better, Rio, unless you want the crew staring at your chest instead of paying attention to your orders." Arthur said in a motherly tone. "Is this the first time you're wearing a corset? You've never asked me for help."

"Y-Yes, it's my fifteenth birthday."

"Well, that's rare." Arthur looked up. "I guess you're going to tell Niall?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's my captain not my fairy godmother. Don't tell anyone."

"I thought teenage girls might be all jumpy on their birthdays, expecting something big." Arthur chuckled, though I sensed sadness in his laugh.

"But why are you tying corsets?" I teased. "Unless you used to be…"

"What? No!" He protested. "I used to always tie it for…someone…"

"Your mother?"

"No, my sister."

I blinked. "You have a sister? Neither you nor Niall has ever talked about her."

"She's dead." Arthur said flatly.

"Oh."

Arthur made a final knot at the end of the corset and announced, "Done."

Arthur quickly changed, in fact, he was a lot faster than me. He glanced at the clock on the wall and frantically dashed out of the room. I hurriedly slipped on my clothes, but Arthur came back. He stuck his head into the room and said, "Happy birthday, Rio."

**XXX**

I avoided Niall for probably the whole day, though Arthur tried to convince me to tell him it was my birthday. It didn't matter about my birthday, but I obviously couldn't casually start a conversation with him after walking out on him yesterday. I hated myself for the way I managed my relationships. At first, I was going well with Niall and Lars, especially Lars, as he was literally my first friend. Overnight, I let Arthur touch my back and I'm avoiding Niall and Lars. Still, I was thankful to Niall for getting the sailors to shut up. They were back to normal – scared of a teenage girl who was their commander.

That afternoon, while everyone was having their leniently-given two-hour break, I went to check on the mermaid. The last time I saw her, she was hissing as blood was drawn from her. It was her fault. She should have kept her razor-sharp teeth to herself. I knew Arthur voluntarily put himself in charge of her, but I was curious. What has Arthur turned her into?

She was beautiful, but she has only learnt to crawl, which she ought to use less as it looked unpleasant for a girl. Her skin was tanned, which was quite surprising for a mermaid who lived in ice-cold waters. Her dark brown hair was messy and tangled because of the salt water it had been soaked in for her whole life. I should stop calling her a mermaid, since her scales had turned into skin and her tail was now feet. However, she still had her venom, she was still a creature. She was wearing a knitted sweater that reached below her knees.

When she saw me, she panicked, but didn't say anything. She was gasping and pulling at Arthur's jacket. For once, I felt sorry for her.

"Victoria? What's wrong!" Arthur asked frantically, once he was snapped out of his slumber.

"Arthie..Arthie…it's her…" She said, her voice hoarse.

Arthie? It sounded like they were…

"Hell-Hello, Victoria." I said politely. "Arthur, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Arthur whispered something to Victoria which made her giggle a little, but she frowned when I pulled Arthur to a corner. We were standing behind a few barrels of supplies, but it looked like I was pinning him on the wall. "Arthur, how far has your relationship with her developed?"

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked as his green orbs trembled at my daggered ones.

"I mean we're going to carry at least ten bottles of her blood in each of our bags on the day of battle!"

"I know."

"We can't have _love birds, _Arthur, especially not now." I reminded him. "Have you decided when you're going to do it?"

"Draw blood?"

I crossed my arms. "Uh, no, when you're going to marry her and have lots of babies."

Arthur seemed to fantasize about that idea, but he just nodded, trying to brush me off and went back to Victoria. She clutched his arm like a collar on a wild animal's neck and refused to let go as her eyes trembled at the sight of me. I sighed and left the room. He couldn't bring himself to kill her. Even if anyone other than him were to do it, they'd have to do it with him shrieking and fidgeting, resulting in a painful death for the mermaid.

**XXX**

When I reached the upper deck, a sailor rushed towards me, panting anxiously. His whole face was covered with perspiration as he said, "Commander! I was looking for you!"

"What is it that is so important that you can't look for the other commanders?"

"Captain is summoning all of you!" The sailor craned his neck and guessed Arthur was in the lower deck, taking care of Victoria. "We're here!"

"What!"


	9. The Ghost Pirates

I stomped towards Niall, making my footsteps loud enough to let Lars know I'm still giving him the cold shoulder. I could already see the Caribbean land standing on the back of the ship. Niall's eye was poking at his telescope as he kept adjusting it to get a better view. He was probably checking for company. It was so impossible how we could arrive so quickly, it had only been a few days since we left London. Although I was still unprepared and my knives were unsharpened, I wanted to get the battle over with so I could run home and fall into Antonio's arms, apologizing to him for running away. I already regretted running away a long time ago.

Niall passed me the telescope as if he knew I was going to question him about the early arrival. "This isn't the Caribbean."

I held the heavy telescope and looked into it. He was right. "So we're lost."

He chuckled. "Rio, you need to be more quick-witted to be a privateer. You think I would charge at a million pirates with only a few men and a few liters of mermaid blood?"

"Is this where we're meeting the Ghost Pirates?"

I gulped. "Ghost Pirates?"

"You're so outdated, Rio." Niall rolled his eyes. I glared at him, demanding for an explanation. "Well, they're on our side. We agreed that as long as they provide us manpower, we'll let them off with the booty. That is, if the booty even exists. Idiots."

"How can you trust _pirates_? Does the king know?"

"The king doesn't need to know." He said coolly. "Lesson Number One, Rio, the boss gives you the mission, you work out the steps on your own."

"Have you met them before?" I asked.

"Alright, Rio, would you rather stay on the ship and babysit the men while I make sure those pirates are trustworthy?" Niall teased.

I groaned and stormed off. I went to look for Arthur, although he would obviously felt the ship stopping and knew what to do. But I went up again, I didn't want to rant and nag about how annoying Niall and Lars was, though I was doing the same thing to Niall, but talking about Arthur instead.

**XXX**

The longboat was filled with the _important _people, Niall, Lars and me and twenty more sailors. Arthur was still in the lower deck of our ship tending to a frightened mermaid. We didn't plan to bring that many, but they all seemed eager to see these Ghost Pirates. I swore the boat almost toppled over because of the shivering half of us due to the cold night temperature, but we weren't headed to land. Instead, we went round the island where a small ship that looked more threatening than ours sat on the waters. The ship was illuminated with oil lamps everywhere which looked like white points dotting a drawing of a pirate ship. But the ship definitely looked different from the pirate ships found in children books.

When we were pulled in, we met a Finnish pirate. He seemed to be cleaner than the other pirates, wearing worn-out but clean high-waist slacks, a white and blue striped shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulder and a red bandana that lost most of its color. He had blonde hair and spoke an enthusiastic tone all the time. He was a few inches taller than me and he looked very young, almost my age. I liked him. He seemed too nice to be a pirate, but since I never met an actual pirate before, I couldn't judge.

"What are we doing here?" I whispered to Niall.

"Just seeing the captain's progress on the plan. After all, we wouldn't want them ratting us out."

I rolled my eyes. "You can't trust a pirate. You're doing this without permission from his Majesty!"

"And what place are you in to oppose me, commander?"

I stared at him, speechless. He turned around and continued to follow the pirate. Then again, what was I so indignant about?

The pirate led to a room on the upper deck which obviously belonged to the captain. The captain wasn't in the cabin when we entered and just when we were about to ask the crew about it, they slammed the doors shut. Uh-oh. I glared at Niall. "This is your fault!"

Niall whipped around to face me but when his mouth opened, we heard footsteps from the corner of the room. A pale-blonde man appeared. He had aqua eyes and a curl of hair sticking out of his head with a hairclip that looked like a cross securing it. He looked more like Niall than a pirate, with his crew as examples. He settled in a chair in front of his desk, rested his elbow on the table and stared at us. Somehow his stare seemed to stop at me. He looked at me like he was looking at some desirable object, but without lust. Have I met him before?

Niall began, "Hello, Captain Bondvik."

"How may I address you, Niall Kirkland? Captain or Lord?" He replied, still eyeing me.

"Anything that is the most appropriate to you." Niall followed Bondvik's gaze and chuckled. "These are my commanders, Lars Aafjes and Rio Juarez Carriedo."

"Carriedo," Bondvik mouthed, "no wonder…"

"I beg your pardon?" I said.

Niall glared at me and mouthed something with his lips, probably telling me not to say a word. I did as told. But what was so particular about my surname?

"Captain Kirkland, may I ask your purpose for this visit? I'm sure you wouldn't want to step on a filthy pirate ship just to say hello."

"Don't say that, Lukas-"

"Captain Bondvik."

"I just wanted to know about your side of the plan. How is it so far?"

"I have over ten thousand men for this war." Bonvik's eyes shifted to me again. "I assume your crew will stay at sea with the rest of the ships?"

"Only mine, Captain Bondvik. You don't have to worry-"

"It's more effective." He protested. He stood up, his body leaning against the desk, his face uncomfortably close to Niall's. "I trust you, you trust me. We'll divide. I'll shoot anyone in that British navy uniform coming to spy on me.

He glanced at me. "And I don't care if it's any of your leading crew."

"Deal, Bondvik." Niall said as he pulled away from the pirate.

Bondvik pulled out a scroll from one of his shelves and rolled it out the desk. It was the map of the island. I craned my neck to see the prints, but I only spotted an X which marked the spot for the treasure. A treasure map was never commercial. Each chest had one map and at rare times, one key. If Bondvik was holding on to the only map then this ridiculous war would be pointless.

"The pirate ships will be coming in from every direction. You will guard the south with your ship and the rest will be scattered…"

"I have to something ask, Captain Bondvik." I said boldly as Niall and Lars whipped around and stared at me.

Niall walked towards me and grabbed my arm. "Rio, out, now."

"I am a commander on the British navy, I deserve to-"

"Do ask." Bondvik said.

I shook Niall's grip off my arm, all my focus on Bondvik. "Is this the only map?"

"Of course it is." Bondvik said as his fist punched the X in the map. "But this X doesn't mark the spot."

**XXX**

Back on the ship, Niall summoned me to his cabin, of course, to reprimand me for boldly questioning Bondvik. His definition of summoning was grabbing the arm as tight as a crab claw and dragging. Once in the cabin, he slammed the door closed and let go of me.

"That hurt," I mumbled.

"Do have any idea what you just did?"

"Of course I do. I see no wrong in asking a simple question that deserves to be answered."

"Don't do anything. I forbid you to see him ever again."

"That's unfair! I am a commander and I-"

"That is an order from your captain and commander-in-chief and you will follow it."

I was shocked, but before Niall left, he whipped around and snapped, "This is my cabin, you leave."

"Why?" I whined.

"Are you questioning your orders, commander?"

"I am not asking why I have to leave, or why I can't see Bondvik anymore. Why are you scared of him?"

"Excuse me!"

"You are scared of him! If it were any other pirate, you would give me a chance to speak."

Niall gulped as if he was admitting he was afraid of that pirate. His eyes shifted to the chairs, asking me to sit down. He sat down in front of me, his eyes so big they could just pop out of his eyelids. "Ten years ago, Lukas Bondvik sailed to Spain to become a privateer. He grew up on his pirate father, Legolas Bondvik's ship and became a pirate at the age of six. Sick and tired of his sinful life, he went to a Catholic church in Spain to repent. The Mighty Lord seemed to tell him to be a privateer, after all, he still loved the sea and his dear daddy. He was accused by his commander-in-chief for being involved in piracy and he was hung till death and his body was brought to Davy Jones' Locker."

"He's…dead?"

"Undead, more like it. I have no idea how he got out of there, that's why he calls his crew the Ghost Pirates."

"Who was his commander-in-chief?"

"I don't know. Some Spanish privateer."

"_Carriedo," Bondvik mouthed, "no wonder…"_


	10. Captain's Orders

_We set off tomorrow. Bondvik is already ambushing the area. We can't fall behind. _These words of Niall replayed in my mind, highlighting Bondvik. I didn't give a damn about when we were setting off, or whether he was beating us at the battle but what Niall said about him. It could just been a dumb pirate tale, but the evidence – him being familiar about my surname, or rather my brother's surname, and getting plunged into Davy Jones' locker by a Spanish privateer. It was obviously Antonio who had provoked him, but the timing was too off. Ten years ago, Antonio was my guardian.

That blood-freezing night, I was about to fall asleep when I stopped thinking about Bondvik, but Lars came into my cabin when I was alone and threw a pistol at me. "Wake up." He said coldly.

I jolted up when the steel pistol tube hit my foot and glanced at Lars. "What is this?"

"Take it and kill the creature. Make sure it dies, but loses as little blood as possible. Captain's orders."

"Why can't I just suffocate her and knife her? It'll ensure least blood loss."

"It's not that easy to suffocate a mermaid, Rio. It could just play dead and come back up and bite you."

I picked up the pistol. "With Arthur in there?"

"That's why it's loaded with two bullets."

"He wants to kill his own brother?"

"It's to scare him off."

"But why me?" I whined.

"Captain says Arthur hating you is not going to change anything. After all, you're a girl."

I groaned and fell back into slumber, but Lars was still there. "What?"

"Do it now."

"It's one o'clock in the morning."

"When Arthur's guard is down. There will be sailors backing you up."

After Lars left, I grabbed my jacket and pulled it over my upper body. The room itself was too cold even with the jacket on. I wonder what the temperature was like below deck. I quietly walked downstairs, cursing my noisy boots. When I reached the room, I was startled to hear noises. Could the mermaid be attacking Arthur? Then if she were, there would be hissing and Arthur's cry for help. Instead, I heard laughter. I leaned against the door as I took the pistol out and unloaded one bullet. I put the other bullet in my pocket. My heart was beating so fast that I could hear it, and I had the fear of not hearing it anymore when I sneak into the room. I waited until all was quiet and I opened the door slightly. My jaws dropped to the sight of clothes scattered on the floor and Arthur salivating in the mermaid's mouth.

It took a while for them to notice me. I had to be quiet after all. "Rio! You…I…this isn't what it looks like!" Arthur said anxiously as he rolled off Victoria.

I said nothing. I grabbed the pistol and put it behind my back, took the bullet from my pocket and loaded it in. I pointed it at Arthur first.

"Rio…this is…" He glanced from the weapon to me.

"Get off the bed."

He was stoned for a while until I yelled, a bit too loudly, "Get off!"

"He did nothing to you!" Victoria hissed.

"Shut your face hole, thing, before I kill the both of you." I snapped, pointing the pistol at Victoria.

By then Arthur had his bottoms on and grabbed the tube of the pistol as I struggled. A gunshot was heard, but nobody was shot and the bullet was wasted on a cheap painting. "Bloody hell!" I swore. "Get the fuck away from me!"

Arthur hugged my arms, trying to control my grip on the pistol. "Rio, don't do this. Don't!"

Another gunshot was heard and my target was hit. The crimson red gash on Victoria's shoulder started leaking blood. She touched her bleeding shoulder as she touched her wound. I soon forgot that I had to conserve the blood. The blood on her fingers cleansed her hand and made it look younger, but it couldn't take the bullet out of her.

Arthur glared at me, his eyes forced on me like the bullet I just blew into Victoria's shoulder. "Damn you!" He whipped out a knife and I suddenly regretted shooting Victoria. He held me and the blade was forced into my abdomen, right below my chest. It wasn't too deep, but it did cut me badly. I was bleeding as well, but my blood will never be as worthy as Victoria's. Arthur stared at his knife stained with my blood and he looked at me, teary. "What have I done…"

I clutched my wound as Arthur went to tend to Victoria. The sailors were outside the room. "Commander, are you in there?"

"Yes…yes…" I said, my voice suddenly hoarse. I started crying but I couldn't see much. The sailors barged into the room, pushing Arthur out of the way as they drained the blood from Victoria. If I were to die that moment, I'd like to die happy. The last face I saw was Arthur's. The last voice I heard was his as well. His words weren't of care and concern, all he said was: _Why did you do that, Rio? Why?_

Captain's orders.

**XXX**

The morning air the next day was indeed very fresh and while everyone was as fresh as the air, I was rotten like a wormed apple. There was an unnecessarily thick and long bandage wrapped around my waist. It didn't cover my chest though. I was disgusted at the thought of a man seeing my bare chest, but did it matter? They've all seen it. I was in a separate cabin, with one large bed and the design as palace-like like the other cabins. Why did I have to move rooms? It was Arthur in wrong, I was just following Captain's orders.

"Good morning, my lady. Is there anything I can get you?" Niall said as he walked into my room.

"Don't say that." I said coldly, not even looking at him.

He frowned. "It was supposed to make you laugh."

"Can I laugh?" I snapped, pointing at my wound. "Hahaha, ouch."

Niall was about to open his mouth, probably talking about changing the day we set off, but out the blue, their ears were split due to the alarming sound of the bell and a sailor shouting his lungs out, "Pirate ship ahead! Pirate ship ahead!"

Alerted, Niall quickly ran out of the room, warning me to stay in the cabin first. For the second time, I disobeyed captain's orders. I went out of the room, though my wound was still torturing me. The sailors were running from end to end of the ship with guns and cannon balls. "Cannons and guns take your positions and await orders!"

The pirate ship which everyone was so alarmed about turned out to be another privateer ship – led by the Spanish navy. "What are those Catholics doing here?" Niall snorted. The sailor who had rung the bell and alarmed everyone early in the morning hid himself. Niall glanced from the Spanish ship to Bondvik's vessel, _The Unsinkable Ghost_. "We're going to have to go on land."

"But it won't be long until the next pirate ship arrives." I said.

"Right." Niall pondered for a moment before reaching a decision. "Lower the longboats! Half of you come with me! Rio, you stay on board with the cannons and the guns. Only attack the pirate ships that are stationery or attacking you, do not touch any others. Especially those pirate ships that are attacking other pirate ships."

"O-Okay…"

Just as Niall boarded a longboat with Lars and a few sailors, I noticed Arthur wasn't in any of the longboats. There wasn't a need for two commanders for that, but was Niall underestimating me because of my wound? Did he want Arthur to stay on the ship to make up for what he did? I searched all the cabins for Arthur to get him off my post and I finally found him in Victoria's old cabin, sleeping on the bed with the blood-stained covers.

The images of Victoria's death came back to me. I was so tense that I couldn't even think smartly. Arthur and Victoria making love on the bed, followed by my finger on the trigger of the pistol, the round bullet pushing its way into Victoria's flesh and ending her life. Only now I realized these memories haunted me like a ghost, especially when I returned to the room. Arthur seemed to embracing something, as if it was Victoria's spirit. I couldn't hear the second bell and the shouting of the sailors for me. I was deaf in the room and all I could hear was the sudden creaking of the door and floor. Of course. I wasn't welcome.

Arthur's eyes fluttered open and his gentle green eyes turned hostile at the sight of me. "What are you doing here?"

"No, what are _you _doing here? You're supposed to be off this ship, on a longboat with Niall."

He stared at the creased bandage on my ribs. He didn't answer, he just walked out of the room and noticed that the gunners and cannons were in place. I followed him. He glanced at me and asked, "What's going on? Are we being attacked?"

"No, but we might be ambushed."

"Where are Niall and the rest?"

"They've gone on land." I didn't want to tell him about the Spanish. He didn't deserve to know.

"Why?"

I didn't bother to answer him. A sailor was running towards me, panting. He gesticulated wildly, asking me to go to the navigation wheel. I did and he passed me a telescope. I looked through it and I saw a real pirate ship which looked much more threatening than _The Unsinkable Ghost_, and rather deadly. It had red, blood-stained sails, the wood of the ship was as black as charcoal, it had real skeletons hanging on the ends of the ship. It almost looked like Blackbeard's _Queen Anne's Revenge_, but Edward Teach, as I heard, was far too intelligent to participate in a war over a rumored treasure.

It was stationery and the ship wasn't lowering any longboats. I wondered if they spotted us. The sailor said anxiously, "Orders, commander?"

"Shush, everyone. Don't make a sound."

The ship fired a few cannons, the sound alarming Niall and his group, but our ship was undamaged. The Spanish ship was split into half and both sunk. "Now, orders?"

"We're too far away. If we sail forward, they'll attack us."

"Oh, Rio, you've only been a privateer for a few weeks. What do you know about pirates?" Arthur snorted.

"I don't, but I'm following Captain's orders. I hope you don't mind, Arthur."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Just because Niall is the captain, it doesn't mean he knows everything."

"It is a crime to disobey the commander-in-chief. You've been on board for years, shouldn't you know?"

"Niall survived being thrown into a pool full of mermaids thanks to me."

I continued to ignore Arthur and lowered a longboat for myself, leaving a sailor in charge. I know Arthur would probably shoo the sailor off as he was a commander, but he wouldn't be as immature as to leave with the ship without me. I made my way to _The Unsinkable Ghost_, climbed on board, expecting to find Tino the first mate. Instead, I encountered a few filthy pirates that looked nothing like Bondvik or Tino that smirked at me before locking me below deck. I was locked in a crammed room with Tino and the whole of Bondvik's crew.


	11. Fallen Behind

"Tino!" I gasped. "What's going on? What are you doing here? Where's Bondvik?" I clasped my hand over my mouth, forgetting that I'm in front of his crew and I'm supposed to address him as Captain.

"No need to apologize, Commander." Tino lamented. "He doesn't deserve to be called Captain."

"Why are you locked up on your own ship? Who are those pirates?"

Tino sighed, his face crestfallen and his eyes downcast. The rest of the crew was just as gloomy. Were they all ghosts like Bondvik who were drowned and brought to Davy Jones' locker? Without facing me, he said, "They are immortals."

"Obviously. Aren't you all immortals?"

"No, we're not. That's why Lukas Bondvik locked us in here. He said our mortality was mutiny to him."

"But where are the ambushes? The ten thousand men he promised?"

Tino snorted. "There are no ten thousand men or ambushes. It was all made up to use your crew to get rid of the other pirates."

"Bastard." I mumbled. "Where's he off to now?"

"He's gone to take the treasure and then he'll be after you. However, I guess now the latter is accomplished."

"After me? Why?"

"I don't know, Commander. That's why you must get out."

I swore in Portuguese and continued to shake the unbreakable bars of the cell. Tino shook his head to tell me it was no use. Infuriated, I kicked the bars and ended up hurting my toes when I saw a shade of crimson red stain on my boots. What was Bondvik going to do? Kill me? I wondered why he hated immortality so much. I thought if I told Tino about what I assumed Bondvik's reason for kidnapping was, he'd tell me why he hated immortality. "Tino…the reason why-"

I was cut off by the alarming sound of a cannon. The cannon ball shot through the wood of _The Unsinkable Ghost_, leaving a prominent hole on the wall. The rest of the prisoners and I backed away as a second cannon shot through the wall again, making the hole bigger. It miraculously broke the locks of the chains. I was startled to see blood dripping from the upper deck. What had happened up there? I, as well as the other prisoners, hurriedly escaped. None of them, not even Tino, wanted to go stop Bondvik or give him a piece of their minds. I rowed my longboat back to my ship as I climbed on with Arthur's help.

"What happened?" He asked.

"The crew got locked up by Bondvik. He made everything up! He's after the treasure and…" I couldn't tell Arthur Bondvik was after me. He wouldn't let me leave.

"What? Why?"

I ignored Arthur and brisk-walked to my cabin, grabbed my weapons and climbed back onto the longboat. Before I rowed away to the shore of the island, Arthur yelled, "Where are you going, Rio? You're supposed to stay on the ship! Captain's orders!"

I had to disobey Niall. I might not be able to stop Bondvik on my own, but if I met Niall on the way, I could get backup. Without hesitation, I ran into the green area of the island, pushing through the plants and killing anything in my way. I was running out of time. It was a long march to the treasure, but I'm sure Bondvik was caught up as well.

After three hours of marching, or hiking, I was so lethargic that I couldn't think straight. I couldn't fall asleep, of course, with Bondvik and his ghost pirates on the loose and predators roaming around the island. Then, I saw a white, translucent thing. It reminded me ghosts. It was translucent and there was a shade of tan orange behind it. Not risking anything, I swung my sword across it as if I was crossing out a word on a sheet of paper. The line was a scar and blood burst out of it like lava from a volcano. The figure collapsed and I realized it was a human. Not just a human, but one of the sailors in my crew.

Niall, Lars and the other sailors turned around and saw the collapsed sailor with a bleeding scar on his back and their commander holding a blood-stained sword. I was ecstatic to find them, but I was in trouble with Niall. He walked towards me with a serious face. "Rio, I told you to stay on the ship."

"That's not important! I have to tell you something!"

"What about the ship? Have ever seen a ship with a crew getting attacked without a commander? It's chaos!"

"Bondvik lied, Captain! He doesn't have ambushes around the island, he doesn't have ten thousand men to battle the pirates! He's using us to get rid of his enemies so he can take the treasure and run!"

"Isn't that the deal, Rio? We're supposed to be getting rid of the pirates."

"But we've no backup! A small group like us will be eliminated by the thousands of pirates that have yet to come!"

"All the more you should go back."

"No!"

"That is an order, Commander Carriedo and you will follow it!"

I groaned and ran off. I didn't hear what Niall said, but he probably thought I was going back to the ship.

"This mission has failed. We have to go back."

"But sir…Bondvik…the pirates…" A sailor said timidly.

"We will end up like the Spanish if we stay on."

**XXX**

"Rio! Rio, are you here?" Arthur shouted as he searched the crowd that returned.

"Isn't she supposed to be with you?" Niall asked, his face pale with anxiety.

"Isn't she supposed to be with _you_?"

"Bloody hell." Niall cussed. He turned to his crew. "Lars, Johnson! Back me up, but not closely." He turned to Arthur, the seriousness in his face sent shivers down the boy's spine. "Arthur, listen, if any pirate ship starts attacking you, pull up the anchor and leave immediately. Do you understand?"

"But what about…"

"If we manage to get out of there, we can take the longboat and locate you easily. It'll be fine."

**XXX**

My second day of marching. I barely slept the previous night. There were dark eye circles surrounding my eyes and I barely had the energy to fight. But I had to move on. The tranquility of the night was shattered when more pirate ships anchored in, firing cannons at enemy ships and shouting commands so loudly that I could hear it that far from the shore. I was rushing again. I began to fear what I would encounter when I found the chest, but no treasure. I could get killed, raped, or kidnapped by the other pirates. Worse, by Bondvik himself.

It was the second time I injured a human when my eyes saw a blurry blue colored uniform back in front of me with a white sash slung over it. It was by accident, of course I wouldn't do it again on purpose. The back of this person looked very familiar and he was nothing like a pirate. I heard his familiar voice when he cried at the pain of my sword cutting his back. He took out his sword, ready to attack the attacker but dropped it when he saw me. It was Antonio.

"Rio! Is that you?" He said as if he was seeing things.

I burst into tears and embraced him out of the blue, my hands clutching his bleeding back. "_Irmao_! I'm so glad to see you!"

He pulled away slowly and scanned me from head to toe. He frowned when he recognized my uniform. "Y-You're a British privateer?"

I nodded as I wiped away my tears. "What are you doing here?"

"The same reason as you. But you must leave now. Find your crew and leave."

"Why? I need to keep marching on."

"You don't understand. There's this pirate…he's after you…the both of us, technically."

"I know who is! Lukas Bondvik! I need to get to the treasure before him!"

"He will-"

"I don't care! I'm not letting him take it after deceiving us! He doesn't deserve it, even his crew thinks he doesn't deserve to be called captain!"

"He will kill me, but you…he has another purpose…"

"If I leave, will you leave with me?"

He didn't answer. His eyes were downcast and my brows furrowed.

"I have a duty to serve, and that is to destroy whatever that is in that chest!"


	12. It's Not Over

I felt bad about abandoning Antonio and going off to find Bondvik. He was bent on protecting me, so I knocked him out. If Bondvik didn't want to kill me, both of us would stay alive. It was getting dark on my second day of marching, but I could feel the treasure getting nearer. It was found in a cave shaped like a human skull. I was dragging my lifeless feet that were dotted with rashes from all sorts of insects. I couldn't fear being bitten by anything poisonous as I was still alive hours after the bite. The rashes, however, were irritating and itchy. Scratching them just made them worse.

After walking in several pools of water and mud, I daren't pull out my boots to see my legs. I reached a dry end, it was the cave resting on a pebbly shore. The eye holes of the skull made it seem like it was glaring, its stone nose bone was long and pointed and its stone teeth were sharp as icicles. I had to be careful, in case the fragile possibly baby teeth of the skull dropped and stabbed me. I whipped out my sword just in case there was a pirate hiding somewhere in the cave, ready to pounce. I was nearing Bondvik, or maybe just the treasure. I didn't know I could make it that far, all on my own.

What I found unusual was that the cave was very tranquil. I expected armies of pirates wielding their swords at each other, their cries of pain or victory and the clanging sound of swords hitting each other shaking the whole cave. I trembled whenever I heard the least of a sound, even when it's just the sound of pebbles leaning on each other or another cannon fight between two pirate ships.

The walk in the cave was eerie, quiet and uncomfortably long. I was about to collapse when I felt the jingle of golden coins at my feet. The chest, wooden and compact, was sitting on a triangular rock in the center of the chamber. It was lit by light directing from a crack in the skull cave and it was left alone, as if it was untouched. There were carvings of pictures representing life on the chest. When I touched its bark-like texture, I suddenly felt younger. My hands and forearms looked as soft as a baby's under the light.

All my hope seemed to drained from me when I saw the lock attacked to the chest. The chest seemed to be in a blanket of chains and the lock was unlocked. I trembled and my heart was beating at such a fast rate it echoed in the cave. I failed and the pirates were coming and going to assume I took their booty. When I hopelessly opened the chest, I saw an empty chest.

I was about to faint when Bondvik grabbed me, one hand hugging my neck, the other holding a pistol to my head. "Don't make a sound."

"What do you want?" I whimpered.

"I want you to sleep. You're very tired, are you not?"

"But…you…"

"Sleep or die. I won't hurt you."

My eyebrows furrowed and my voice roughened. "Your promises are as empty as your conscience."

He adjusted the gun, nearer to the center of my brain. "Shush, or I'll kill both of you."

I knew he was referring to Antonio. Still breathing heavily, I closed my teary eyes and pretended to sleep, but I was so beat that I just naturally fell asleep, not caring what Bondvik would do. I didn't feel my clothes being ripped off me, my mouth being opened for poison or any part of my body being cut. I just felt foreign.

**XXX**

It had been five days since Niall had gone out to the island to search for Rio. Niall's search crew was intact, except for Lars who had fell behind after being bitten by a snake.

"_Ouch!" A loud cry of agony was heard. The whole crew turned around to see a venomous snake struggling at Lars' neck, its tail and body swinging like a whip as Lars tried to pull it out. A sailor ran towards Lars and pulled the creature out of his neck with all his strength, but there was a few venomous snake teeth stuck on Lars' bleeding neck. _

"_What creature is it?" Niall asked._

"_It's poisonous. But this type won't kill him."_

_Niall knelt down and touched Lars' wound which caused Lars to wince. "Take him back to the ship."_

"_No, Captain! You and crew move on. I'll make my own way back."_

"_But can you stand up?"_

"_Of course I can. It should take only a few hours to knock me out completely." Lars forced a smile. "But more importantly, you must find Rio."_

"_Alright, I'll meet you on the ship."_

Arthur, alerted by his brother's return, ran towards the crew. They all looked down and hopeless, but there was still glimpse of hope for Arthur. The sailors shook their heads, referring to their late commander, some even burst into tears. Arthur walked towards Niall, his whole body stiff, and asked, "Where's Rio?"

"We searched the whole island but couldn't find her." Niall said, his eyes not meeting Arthur's.

"Oh dear…" Arthur said.

"Is Lars alright? Can I see him?"

"Isn't he supposed to be with you?"

Niall recalled Lars weakly encouraging him to find Rio, but he didn't stand up before the crew left. "Oh no…"

"What? What is it!"

"He was bitten by a snake while we were searching for Rio. He told us to move on and he'd make his own way back here but…"

"Lower a longboat! We have to find Lars!" Arthur commanded.

"No!" Niall shouted. "Leave them. Both of them."

"We can't just abandon Lars! And what if Rio is still lurking somewhere in the forest, probably hiding from all the pirates?" Arthur cried. Niall didn't want to see the sorrowful face of his brother, the tears falling from his eyes.

"Those who fall behind, get left behind." Niall said brutally although Arthur sensed sadness in his tone. "All hands to sail! Put your backs into it, we don't have all day!"

**XXX**

I was awoken when a bucket of freezing water was splashed onto me. "Wake up, poppet! You've got work to do!"

"Aye!" I said instinctively, thinking it was Niall. But I realized Niall would never go through the trouble of wasting water to wake me up, and further more I was a commander on my ship. "Where am I?"

"Welcome to _Queen Anne's Revenge_, poppet!" The sailor laughed. He was a pirate. What was I doing on Blackbeard's ship?

"Blackbeard?" I inquired.

The pirates surrounding me laughed as if I was telling a joke. I was so tired and put off by the fact that I was kidnapped by pirates that I screamed, "WHERE AM I!"

"Welcome to my second ship, Rio." I whipped around and saw a familiar man. Lukas Bondvik. "You've slept for quite a while."

"Where am I? What am I doing here?" I failed to notice my different dress. I was in dusty leather boots, dark brown tights and a white shirt exposing my flat cleavage. "What on earth am I wearing?"

"From now onwards, you will be on my crew as first mate, a pirate."

"You won't let mortals be on your crew. I'm a mortal, drop me off."

"Or are you, Rio? Are you so sure?" Then I noticed he had a sword right through my chest, but I didn't feel a thing. When he took it out, it wasn't stained with a drop of blood and I didn't collapse.


End file.
